Brokerages Set Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) PT at $162.67

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $162.67.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $208.43 on Wednesday. Garmin has a 52 week low of $118.51 and a 52 week high of $215.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $179.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Garmin will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. This represents a 19.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,479 shares of company stock worth $2,419,502. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 40.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 136.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,177,000 after acquiring an additional 411,084 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at $53,252,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth approximately $45,999,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Garmin by 34.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $178,958,000 after purchasing an additional 278,990 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Company Profile

Garmin Ltd. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of wireless devices worldwide. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; smartwatch devices; scales and monitors; and fitness accessories. This segment also provides Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile, which are web and mobile platforms where users can track and analyze their fitness, activities and workouts, and wellness data; and Connect IQ, an application development platform.